Autodesk Construction Cloud Releases New 3rd Party App Integration Platform, ACC Connect

As many across the construction industry have figured out, there is no single software that can fully encompass all of a company’s technological needs. According to a recent Construction Technology survey, nearly 75% of companies are integrating data at from at least 1 other software provider, highlighting the need of different software to talk to one another. Without these integrations, you’re forced to manually transfer redundant data from one program to another, wasting time and energy, while also increasing frustrations for your company’s daily users.

To help ease the integration process for construction companies on their platform, Autodesk has announced the release of Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect (ACC Connect), as well as an expanded partner ecosystem for built-in 3rd party app integrations and several new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

ACC Connect

ACC Connect will support integrations for all 4 of the flagship programs on the Autodesk Construction Cloud: BIM 360, PlanGrid, Assemble, and BuildingConnected. Evolving from PlanGrid Connect (which was released shortly after their acquisition by Autodesk), ACC Connect will allow users to create their own custom app integrations without the need to write code. Powered by Workato, an automated app integration platform, users can quickly create an “If This, Then That (IFTTT)”-style integration between multiple apps with a few clicks of a button.

For example, the screen shot below shows that if a new or updated document is added into a project folder in BIM 360, then it should trigger a custom action of your choosing in BuildingConnected, Assemble, and PlanGrid.

screenshot of ACC Connect, courtesy of Autodesk

“Transferring data between the applications we use and those used by our clients and subcontractor partners can often be a complex, expensive, and error-prone process,” said Blaine Crawford, director of information technology, C.W. Driver, in a press release. “ACC Connect lets us easily build custom integrations between the solutions used across each of our project teams and workflows so we can streamline our data management, spend more time on project-critical tasks and ultimately drive more productivity.”

Expanded 3rd Party App Integrations and New APIs

In addition to the dozens of pre-built integrations for 3rd party partner applications already available on the Autodesk Partner Ecosystem, Autodesk has announced 15 new integrations for their users, as well as several new APIs

New Integrations for BIM 360 Users

• Agile Handover

• Contecht

• Matterport

• MSuite

• Plannerly

• Reconstruct

• Shedmate

• SignNow

• Allegion Overtur

• StructionSite

New Integrations for PlanGrid Users

• DataStreet

• Extracker

• FACS

• ProjectMates

• Zters

• Allegion Overtur

• StructionSite

Autodesk has also released new APIs for BIM 360 and PlanGrid, allowing users and 3rd party app partners to access more information and increase data security. In BIM 360, Autodesk has added a Permissions API to control what specific project information collaborators can see and a Cost Management API to allow data flow to and from specialized accounting tools. In PlanGrid, partners can now access data from PlanGrid’s recently released Advanced RFIs, Submittals, and Custom Forms APIs.

“Construction projects today involve multiple technology applications serving various team members and workflows,” said Angi Izzi, director of partnerships for Autodesk Construction Solutions, in a press release. “When those applications can’t talk to each other and data becomes siloed, productivity is compromised across workflows. The expansion of our integration capabilities underscores our commitment to driving construction productivity and empowering the industry to collaborate with deeper connections to technologies and teams.”

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